Bush leadership PAC raising money fast

Jeb Bush’s 2016 political operation is off to a fast start, raising six figures in online donations in just a few hours.

The Republican’s new leadership efforts — dubbed the Right to Rise PAC — crossed the $100,000 mark not long after launching a new website and Google search ads on Tuesday tied to his name, longtime Bush adviser Mike Murphy said in an interview.

Story Continued Below

Bush, who announced last month that he is actively exploring a presidential bid, is using his PAC to raise money, travel the country and start laying the foundation for a possible White House run.

“Everybody, today we are setting up the Right to Rise PAC, which is a PAC to support candidates that believe in conservative principles to allow all Americans to rise up,” Bush said in a video posted on his Facebook page, which was filmed on a smart phone by the former Florida governor’s body man while walking down a New York street.

Bush, who is bilingual, posted another video with him making the same announcement in Spanish. He also launched English and Spanish-language websites for the leadership PAC. Murphy confirmed his firm, Revolution Agency, built the website and is handling the social media components of the Republican’s initial moves toward a potential White House campaign.

Murphy said Bush’s PAC is getting digital help from Revolution senior vice president Sheena Arora; Chris Georgia, who ran digital operations during the 2014 cycle for the NRCC’s independent-expenditure arm; and IMGE, an Alexandria, Virginia-based digital firm that built the website’s fundraising tools. IMGE’s cofounders are former Republican Governors Association executive director Phil Musser and Alex Skatell, who ran digital operations for the RGA and National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Bush aides confirmed their early digital staffing moves, but they also maintained no official vendors have been named for a campaign that doesn’t yet exist.

“No news to share on the consultant front,” Bush spokeswoman Kristy Campbell said in an email.

Bush’s web presence has slowly grown since his initial announcement last month on Facebook and Twitter that he was actively exploring a presidential run — a move that 2016 rival Rand Paul countered by buying up ad space atop Google searches for Bush’s name. On Tuesday, Bush’s PAC started running its first Google ads with a link to the website’s donation page and a one-line message: “Support Economic Opportunity for America’s Future. Contribute Now!”

The former Florida governor’s allies have also formed a super PAC with the same Right to Rise name that can accept and spend unlimited amounts. Besides a donate button, the homepage for the super PAC website asks supporters to sign up with their email and zip code. It features an American flag in the background and the words: “All Americans have the Right to Rise. Stand with us if you want to restore opportunity for all Americans.”

Others eyeing 2016, such as Republican Sens. Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, have had their own leadership PACs and other fundraising committees for years.

Bush has a network of deep-pocketed GOP donors who have indicated they will back him, but other 2016 contenders have spent more time in building different fundraising vehicles that have been operating as campaigns in waiting.

A fundraiser has already been scheduled for Wednesday in Greenwich, Connecticut, to benefit Bush’s leadership PAC. The Federal Election Commission’s website does not yet show records of either the leadership PAC or super PAC.